Anna Chancellor's posh role worries

Anna Chancellor, who will appear as Lady Anstruther in the new series of 'Downton Abbey', worries she hasn't been "adventurous" enough in her career

Anna Chancellor worries she hasn't been "adventurous" in her career.

The 49-year-old actress, who appears as Lady Anstruther in the new series of 'Downton Abbey', admits she is wary of always playing posh roles after landing a slew of similar parts in quick succession.

In addition to her guest stint on the hit ITV period drama, Anna - who shot to fame as 'Duckface' in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' - is set to star in a new adaptation of 'Mapp and Lucia' for BBC One and will play the wealthy Lady Catherine Dean in stage play 'The Wolf from the Door'.

She told The Times newspaper: "I agree my heart did slightly sink. But I think it's slightly unfair to blame my background. I think it's been more me; maybe I haven't been very adventurous. I could maybe have pushed my boundaries and other people's boundaries a bit farther."

The actress remains tight-lipped about her role on 'Downton' in which she will play the former employer of servant Jimmy Kent (Ed Speleers) in the first episode.

She said: "It was literally a week's filming for me. It was rather flash-in-the-pan."

But Anna did offer her opinion of the class system, which plays a huge part in the ITV show, and feels the idea is somewhat inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

She explained: "I know we like talking about it but the awful thing is, as I've got older I can't quite remember why. Why are we so keen on it?

"I just think, say the aliens come or the lights go out, what is the difference? It's all so fragile, it's a house of cards. It's nothing. A lot of it just so superficially constructed."